Hi! I just joined today! After some trial and error,looking for some weapons and styles I was good at and liked, I found that I was well suited for my own style of kickboxing, karate, taijustu I got from a book, and some moves I saw from Bruce Lee demos, and I was particuarly good with nunchakus. Not to brag but I could easily pick them up the first time I got my hands on a practice pair. (age 10) Ironicly, I only found out they're illegal in my state right when I got my first real pair, and had to send them back. I've looked around, and hadn't found a weapon I really liked or would want to train with for the next 10 years. Well, until I saw a demo of a guy with a rope dart. They just look amazing! I really don't mind the high amount of skill to use them cause I figured, I've got enough time to train, it's not like I'm going to war right?

Ok, to get to the point here, (sorry I tend to ramble.) anybody know some good books that I could study? I was thinking of getting a book from the Kungfu Brothers, and thinking of getting my dart from MLE.com Some help would be highly appreciated! Also, sorry if I seem alittle "cocky".

Your "own" style? Ok basically the answer you are going to get from pretty much everyone here is that you need an instructor if you truly wish to accomplish anything. And I am not just refering to your own style here. If you really want to learn a weapon like the rope dart you are in for some pain. YOu can not expect to learn such a weapon that is constantly in motion from still pictures in a book. Serious weapons training requires a teacher. Someone to guide you. Otherwise you are simply playing with weapons and will only end up getting injured in the long run. look around, check the yellow pages, find a teacher. You will not be able to accomplish much from books or by making up your own style. Books are fine as a compliment to having a teacher. But do not use them as your only source of instruction.This may seem harsh, but this forum is where you are going to find many serious traditional weapons students who have been training in weaponry under instruction for a long time. Most people here will admire your desire to learn, but will strongly encourage you to get a teacher.

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There is always someone who knows more, and noone who knows it all....

And just for a perspective on books and movies, keep in mind that these are not produced (if they are in the least bit worthwhile) by people that LEARNED their arts from books and movies. They are produced by people that learned from a teacher, or many teachers, themselves.

You will never, ever, ever see someone that puts out MA books or movies claiming to have gained that "art" from anything short of a long impressive list of teachers.

Well, yeah I know what you guys are saying, but thats the problem. I've had to do this because there really isn't any real schools around were I live. The only ones are just regular karate schools, some are good and I got alot out of them, but most are just really unproffesional, and I feel there just there to keep you occupied than to actually teach you martial arts. Also, everywhere in the US, all you hear is KARATE KARATE KARATE. I really don't know why it is so popular, there are other styles. If I could choose I would want to learn taijustu or jeet kune do but like I mentioned there aren't any schools for them. (Are there any ninja schools anyway?) Like I said before, sorry if I sound cocky, but besides books and videos like that, that's really my only option.

I live in Los Angeles in a little city called Chatsworth near Northridge. I've already checked mapquest and stuff like that and can't find any kungfu schools less than an hour away...so I guess I'm just stuck...

edited: Also, all the other Hapkido and Karate places close to me aren't very proffesional. Seems like there just there to keep you occupied, and not to really teach you, so no on that stuff.

guys the answer people do not want to hear is "find an instructor" ...he made the topic so he could learn off a damn book. I learned nunchucks from looking at internet guides, and i can swing them like a pro now. I dont know about that particular weapon but can someone else give him an an answer other than " find an instructor" . look up videos on youtube, there might be something there.

goddamit lol

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"They say the only way to kill a lion is with a rear naked choke, but I'd just kick it in the head"

Crab you might be skilled at twirling the nunchaku from practicing in your back yard and watching the internet, but unless you have an instructor to teach you the theories and principles behind that weapon or any weapon, youre doing nothing but twirling. There are elements of weapons training that simply cannot be learned without the aid of an experienced teacher. Everything from proper striking, Tai no Sen, Go no Sen, Sen no Sen, Kitachi, and Maai. FOr example, most people who pick up a pair of Nunchaku and play around with them assume that all the twirls and spins are striking techniques, when in fact the majority of the flashy trashy spins are simple that.. trash. When you learn about properly striking withe nunchaku you will see that in many cases the weapon becomes near impossible to recover after hitting a target with the flashy spins. Most of the traditional nunchaku kata, and there are not many left, have very very very few flash spins. The few spins and exchanges that are there are simply for gauging distance.

Like I said, sure you can get good at spinning a nunchaku or maybe a rope dart by practicing in your back yard or something, but you really arent learning anything.

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There is always someone who knows more, and noone who knows it all....